Abstract: PEN-Ivory is a pen-based computer system that uses structured data entry for
creating patient progress notes. Users make simple gestures such as circles,
lines, and scratch-outs to enter medical findings from a controlled
vocabulary. The result of an interaction with PEN-Ivory is a
computer-generated patient progress note in English prose.
We designed PEN-Ivory's user interface in a principled way. We first created
multiple working prototypes, each differing in one of three user-inteface
characteristics. Then we empirically evaluated the prototypes in a
controlled, experimental setting for their efficiencies in enabling users to
create patient progress notes. The prototype that allowed the fastest data
entry had the following three user-interface characteristics: it used a
paging form, used a fixed palette of modifiers, and made available all
findings from the controlled vocabulary at once.